Current Training: Urgelt (Swengus). I finally got Detha to tells me that 'there is not much more' she can teach me.

Circle test this week: Sweet success! It looks like I probably just slipped by, to be among the first 50 fighters to pass 5th.

Donations: Und'rus claims to be done. Off to Cassia Allin I go now, although I doubt very much that what she is building will bear any relationship to the "Alliance Castle". Are there no builders in the Lands working on a more interesting project?

Exploration: looking ... I still can't see or open the path into Hatred Hollow, after a few attempts lately.

I heard that Tenebrion was holding audience in his Keep, so I ran over and found the back door locked. I asked Tenebrion if he might save some of his guards and open it for me, and he replied rather gruffly that He does not do such menial tasks:

You think to Tenebrion, "Might you unlatch your back door, or must I fight my way in?"
Tenebrion thinks to you, "I do not come out to the door."
You think to Tenebrion, "One must imagine you have servants for that, sir."

So I made my way in the hard way and found him speaking about weapons with a small group, when he offered a Pass Key to open his back door to Trowa. Trowa was fallen at the time, beyond the ability (or desire) of Slyph to raise. So calls were sent out and a few other healers arrived to raise Trowa, who then gladly accepted his key.

What those two agreed to in their hushed whispers, I can only guess.

Trowa says, "Thank You Tenebrion"
Trowa says, "Tenebrion just gave me a key"
You gave good karma to Tenebrion, for getting a servant a key to open the door; just a few min too late.

I finally did get my chance to ask Tenebrion himself about my strange experience of feeling his presence upon me when I equipped my Sword of Souls several storms ago.

Azriel asks, "Sir Tenebrion, do you maintain an interest in tracking those who own or use a sword of souls?"
Tenebrion asks, "Tracking them?"
Azriel asks, "And if so, is it more than idle curiousity?"
Azriel says, "aye, tracking"
Azriel says, "At some times in the past, when I have equipped this sword of souls, I have felt your attention on me."
Tenebrion says, "I can feel the depth of the pool."
Tenebrion says, "Who wields them is immaterial."
Tenebrion asks, "Was this visit purely social? Or was there something in particular you wished to discuss?"
Azriel says, "Well, it seems you evade my question, so I'll draw my own conclusions."
Tenebrion asks, "What question Azriel?"
Azriel says, "I HAVE felt your attention upon me when wielding a sword of souls,"
Azriel says, "And you do not seem to want to admit to it,"
Azriel says, "or give a reason for it."
Tenebrion says, "I look in on who is adding to the pool on occasion."
Azriel says, "pool of what, precisely?"
D'nah ponders, "pool of lost souls?"
Tenebrion says, "The power source from which the swords draw."
Azriel says, "Which is why I no longer actively use mine-"
Azriel says, "I worry about this growing pool or whatever power it has."
Tenebrion says, "It will do you little good to keep it sheathed."
Azriel says, "It may do great harm in use"
Tenebrion asks, "Harm?"
Azriel asks, "or can you assure us that these rumours are unfounded?"
Tenebrion says, "Completely unfounded."

A couple of unusual falls I saw recently.

Urgelt organized a sunwyrm hunt today. There were two of the beasts in the Rocky Cavern, and we hoped to kill them both.

Since Urgelt does a very good job of avoiding their attacks, he pinned one to a corner and we had at it.

Urgelt has been training in the use of the fell blade, and Shen Calin in the bloodblade, but even so it was hard and slow going. Even without any training, I manage to hit these beasts with my own fell blade often enough to be of some use in killing them.

After a couple of cycles of attacks and regrouping & healing outside, it was clear that we just didn't have quite the power to finish the job. Hawkthorn the mystic happened out of the library, so with some help from his Atkus boosts we did finally vanquish one. I couldn't hang around long enough to see if the second one would eventually meet a similar fate.

Nevertheless, we are getting close to being able to hunt these beasts again routinely, even without the help of powerful mystic boosts and the most dedicated advanced bladers.

After all the frustrations with the Fifth Circle test that I have been experiencing lately, finally everything just fell into place. I knew I was capable of passing, and today I just breezed right through. The weather was good and I kept my wits about me, and luck seemed to be on my side. Of course, my heart was threatening to jump out of my chest, but things went really, really well.

A few weeks back, I was really hoping to make it within the first 40 fighters to pass, but it looks like I finally locked in the number 50 slot. That's an improvement over my ranking in passing Fourth (69th), and only 7 [RL] months from a hard-fought win in Fourth to passing Fifth (9-10 months seems to be about average). Only a couple of other fighters have managed to move up so fast. Plus, there has been quite a flurry of fighters passing in the past couple months, and I expect that trend to continue as the herd of Ripture War veterans reach this milestone.

As for Fifth to Sixth, every fighter who has passed the Sixth Circle test so far also passed the Fifth Circle test within three weeks of its appearance, and most passed it on their first attempt. A lower-end estimate of the time it takes to get from Fifth to Sixth, with this little data to go by, is 7 months. It's really probably more. We'll see.

Thanks to Noah for keeping track of these things.

Today, there was an unusual degree of orga activity near the Orga Camp. Several exiles had fallen in the Orga Camp and to the West of it, so I headed over there to help with the rescue. And were there ever orga around. Large Death Vermine, Warlocks, Zealots, Furies, and Baby Rages, as well as the more expected mix of rank-and-file Orga and Death Vermine.

It was slow going because there were only a few fighters on hand (although Yoshida-X and Mujin-kun are pretty good at fighting, heh), and at one point a swarm of Large Death Vermine invaded our staging area East of the Meadow and killed nearly all the healers. Those are crafty beasts, always heading straight for the healers, and slippery too. Just standing in their way does not seem to deter them from targeting healers.

In the end, we cleared the Orga Camp and rescued everyone who had fallen, but just about everyone awake in the Lands was involved. The Snaggywood had no unusual activity, and no orga seemed to try to head past the Meadow toward town. What are those Orga up to?

Click here for my report on the previous storm.

Click here for my report on the next storm.

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